6 Amazing Benefits of Houseplants

Most people love plants as they create a refreshing and lively look wherever they are. Having indoor plants is the simplest way to give your home a more natural feel by bringing the outdoors inside. Along with the natural and calming look they create, they can also benefit you in other healthy ways. Here are some of those amazing benefits.

Purifying Air:
Indoor air quality is not very good and experts say the indoor air is usually a lot worse than outdoor. So when you have plants in your house, they convert carbon dioxide into new oxygen and help remove toxins from the air. The right plants can neutralize harmful airborne substances in your home such as formaldehyde (present in rugs, vinyl, cigarette smoke and grocery bags) and benzene. Benzene is commonly found in high concentrations in study settings, where books and printed papers abound.

Speed Up Healing:
Researchers at Kansas State University has shown that adding plants to hospital rooms speeds recovery rates of surgical patients. Compared to patients in rooms without plants, patients in rooms with plants request less pain medication, have lower heart rates and blood pressure, and experience less fatigue and anxiety.

Releasing Water:
As part of the photosynthetic and respiratory processes, plants release moisture vapor, which increases the humidity of the air around them. Plants release roughly 97 percent of the water they take in. Place several plants together to increase the humidity of a room, which helps prevent respiratory distresses. Studies at the Agricultural University of Norway document that using plants in interior spaces decreases the incidence of dry skin, colds, sore throats and dry coughs.

Help You sleep Better:
Indoor plants like Jasmine, Lavender, Aloe Vera and Gardenia can increase the quality of one’s sleep when placed in your bedroom. These plants release a gentle soothing effect to one’s body and mind which can lower heart rate, blood pressure, and stress levels. It also reduces anxiety levels leading to better mood and sleep.

Sharpening Focus:
A study at The Royal College of Agriculture in Circencester, England, found that students demonstrate 70 percent greater attentiveness when they’re taught in rooms with plants.

Improving Your I.Q:
According to Scientific American, indoor plants can actually make you smarter. There is a thing called “directed attention”, which is how long we can remain focused on one task. According to the article, natural foliage can help regenerate our directed attention capacity, which can drop off quickly. A study cited by the article showed subjects in a room with plants fared better at cognitive tests.